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Imantaghavi Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Quite

Hi,

What's the difference between the following sentences?

1- The picture was quite good (=good, but not very good)
2- The cooking was quite wonderful (=very,very good)


Is the difference due to the use of extreme adjective in the second sentence?

Regards,

Iman
  

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5 Answers
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The first sentence is fine, but in the second one I suggest that you leave out the word "quite" and just simply say, "The cooking was wonderful." If you add the word "quite" it sounds as though it was "wonderful," but not "very wonderful." Another suggestion: It sounds better to use the word "food" instead of "cooking."
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Hi Markroe,

Thank you for your time and reply. But that's what the book( Longman FCE preparation GOLD book) provided.

Cheers,

Iman
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MarkroeIf you add the word "quite" it sounds as though it was "wonderful," but not "very wonderful."
I disagree. With non-gradable adjectives, 'quite' means 'completely'. 'Quite wonderful/perfect' are fine with this sense.
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Thanks a lot fivejedjon.

Iman
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I just checked some of the definitions of "quite" on the Internet. One of the sites states that in British English "quite" usually means "fairly." I am a Canadian, so my understanding of some words will be a bit different than that of the Americans. If someone said to me, "That cake was quite wonderful," I would think that it had been fairly good but not really very good.
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